Belarusians have appealed to Netanyahu to publicly condemn the dictator's actions • "As a state established by Holocaust survivors, Israel must not remain silent" • Among the signatories to the letter: actress and torchbearer Evgenia Dudina and singer Arkady Duchin
Benjamin Netanyahu, Alexander Lukashenko
Photography:
Haim Tzach-GPO, Reuters
"Israel must condemn the violence perpetrated by dictator Alexander Lukashenko against the citizens of Belarus, and support the popular protest against the forgery of the election" - this is the main message of an appeal sent today (Wednesday) by a large group of Belarusians to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The appeal, initiated by activists in the Belarusian community and signed by dozens of researchers, cultural figures and sportsmen, states, among other things: "Israel is a country founded by Holocaust survivors and their descendants. History teaches us that the terrible events of the mid-20th century took place against the world. "Most of the leaders of the democracies in Europe and America openly condemned the Lukashenko regime and supported the popular protest in Belarus. Among the countries that recognized Lukashenko are Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Does Israel want to be one of these countries?"
Photo: Reuters
The activists also complain that the repression of the riots, which included the abduction of civilians and their placement in administrative detentions, also affected the citizens of Israel, but even this fact did not change Jerusalem's approach.
"Israeli citizens Alexander Froman, Artyom Pronin, Artyom Borisevich and Anna Sirotina, who were in Minsk, were detained by local police, beaten and detained for several days in a detention facility in inhumane conditions. The Israeli embassy in Minsk not only did not respond immediately, but remained silent. Regarding these cases, as well as the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this is an outrageous evasion by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs from one of its most important functions - protecting its citizens abroad.
In a personal appeal to Netanyahu, the initiators of the letter add: "The natives of Belarus have made a great contribution to the establishment and development of Israel. Eliezer Ben Yehuda - the father of modern Hebrew, Presidents Haim Weizmann, Zalman Shazar and Shimon Peres, Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, founder of the Chabad movement "Shneur Zalman, and many other prominent representatives of the Jewish people, including Sabech, Rabbi Natan Milikovsky, were born in Belarus. In this difficult time for Belarus and its people, we call on you to support its citizens who seek freedom."
The letter is signed by singer Arkady Duchin (born in the city of Bobruisk in Belarus), actress and torchbearer Evgenia Dudina, director of the Belarusian Jewish Research Project at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Leonid Smilovitsky, Valery Panov, founder and director of the Ballet Panov Theater, and Artyom Gorsky. Three-time world champion, seven-time European karate champion and winner of "Maccabiah 2017".
The popular protest in Belarus began on August 9, the day of the presidential election, at the end of which the Central Election Commission announced that President Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, won no less than 81% of the vote - a number he had no grip on in reality.
With the delivery of the results, a protest began that every week spends hundreds of thousands on marches and encompasses all avenues of the population.
On the other hand, the regime arrested thousands of citizens just because they expressed their political position, hundreds were beaten, some protesters were abducted from their apartments, and the well-documented list of civil and human rights violations in the country is growing.
During August, 5,000 Belarusians in the country signed a petition to the Foreign Ministry, in which they demanded condemnation of the violence, but to this day they have responded with silence and statements that "the issue is being examined."
